Boston
by jalf1018
Summary: A songfic based on Blake Shelton's Austin. Filled with sweet SLEXIE goodness.


_Disclaimer & Author's note: I don't own the characters from Grey's Anatomy. I wish I did, but the last time I checked I'm not Shonda Rhimes or ABC. I also don't own the lyrics to Blake Shelton's song Austin. Those lyrics will be italicized and centered. If you're not familiar with the song you should listen to it. It should be noted that I have changed the instances of where the song says Austin to Boston for the purposes of the story. Enjoy and please leave some reviews. -Jen_

**Boston**

Mark Sloan couldn't believe it. He had changed so much for Lexie. The man whore who other women had given up on had been completely reformed. He had finally convinced her to move some of her things to his new condo, but they were missing now. Her clothes, her shoes, even her tooth brush were gone. All that he saw on the counter was a short note. _I'll be back. Love, Lexie._ There was no other sign that she had ever been there. He tried her cell phone but it went straight to voice mail.

Little did he know that as he called her, Lexie was on a cross-country flight back to Boston. Things with Mark had started becoming to real to her. She was a woman with a plan. Her original plan, when she graduated from medical school was to do her residency at Boston General and open a private practice there. Only once her practice was running smoothly was she going to start to find someone to spend her life with. However when her mother died, she changed the plan. Instead of Boston, a city she loved and considered her home, she would enact the plan in Seattle, her actual home town. Then she went to a hotel room occupied by a ruggedly handsome plastic surgeon and the plan got disrupted, again. She had pestered him for months about becoming public with their relationship. She had caused a rift in a lifelong friendship that had managed to survive adultery. It had taken a while but eventually they were happy. Then he asked her to move in with him.

It had been too much. Compared with her sister Meredith, she was stable. She wasn't prone to running away and taking flight. However, she felt like she was in a cage of her own making, but she was in a cage none the less. The only person she could confine in about how she felt, the only one who would understand and sympathize, was her sister that until a short year ago didn't know she existed. Lexie could recall their last conversation.

"_Mer," Lexie yelled as she ran up to her sister. "I have news."_

"_Yeah Lex?" Meredith responded. She knew that today was the day Lexie would find out about a temporary transfer to the surgical program at Boston Gen._

"_I got in and I accepted." Lexie told her._

"_How do you feel about that?" Meredith asked, noting her conflicted tone._

"_I don't know how I'm going to tell Mark. I know in my heart it's something that I need to do, but I feel so guilty." Lexie responded honestly._

"_He should understand. When do you leave?" Mer asked. _

"_In a week. One of my friend's there needs a roommate and I told the Chief that I was going to transfer if I got in. Everything's all set," Lexie rambled. _

"_Wow , one week. I'll miss you when you're gone." Mer replied genuinely. It had taken some getting used to but she really enjoyed having a sister to talk to._

"_It'll be good," Lexie had more to say but her pager buzzed. It was a 911 for one of her post-op patients. "I have to go. I'll see you later." But somehow they hadn't seen each other except in passing for Lexie's last week._

Back in Seattle, Mark was searching for Meredith and finally resorted to paging her to an empty room. "I got a page, but there's no patient here. Why did you page me Mark?" Meredith asked angrily.

"I can't find Lexie. I woke up this morning and all there was left of hers was a note." Mark answered impatiently. "Where is my girlfriend?"

Meredith looked at him stupidly, "Didn't she tell you?" but Mark had no answer. "Lexie transferred to Boston General. She told me she'd tell you."

"Well she didn't," Mark responded shortly, misdirecting his anger at the messenger.

She walked towards him and responded with a pity filled voice. "Just give her some space Mark. She's been feeling trapped. She'll come around. Greys always return to the men they love."

"Are you sure?" Mark asked like a child.

"I am. Look at me and Derek. She'll come around." Mer answered, trying to reassure him.

"Ok, if you say so." Mark said finally. He then walked out of the room and went about his business. He tried to pretend that everything was all right.

For the next year, Mark and Lexie lived their lives separated by 2,484 miles. Neither could forget the other. Lexie's friend's in Boston wondered why she had returned to be so miserable without the man she described as amazing. In Seattle, everyone tried to keep Mark's mind off of Lexie but with little avail. At one point, twelve months after Lexie had left, Mark turned to Addison. They had been friends before she and Derek had started to date. He dialed the phone and waited for her voice to answer. It took a few rings but she did. "Hello?" came the voice from the other line.

"Hey Addie. It's Mark," he responded. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, but how are you? Derek told me you're still moping around Seattle over Lexie Grey." Addison replied concerned.

"I'm thinking about a change of scenery. How do you like LA?" Mark answered.

"I like it a lot, but do you really want to leave Seattle?" Addison answered.

"I do. Everything here just reminds me of her. Do you know anyone looking for a plastic surgeon?" Mark asked, finally getting around to the point of his phone call.

"They're about a dime a dozen around here, but I'll ask around," Addison replied.

"Call me back when you know. Derek's making me go bowling in twenty minutes," he responded.

"Have fun with that," she countered.

"Yeah, Derek seems to think that this kind of thing will heal my heart," retorted Mark. "He's making me go to a Yankees/Mariners game on Friday and then he wants me to spend the rest of my weekend in the woods fishing," he said spitting out the last words.

"He means well," Addison replied. "I will try and get you something. Talk to you later."

"Ok, thank you." Mark completed before hanging up the phone.

It just happened that the same evening, Lexie was thinking about Mark. She had had a few glasses of wine after her shift and couldn't get him out of her mind. Then a thought popped into her head, _I'll call him. His voice will make it all better, if he doesn't hate me for what I did._ Slowly she dialed the digits of his home phone number. She heard a few rings, but then the answering machine picked up. She listened on. Even if it wasn't him, it was at least his voice.

"_If you're calling 'bout the car I sold it.  
If this is Tuesday night I'm bowling.  
If you've got something to sell, you're wasting your time, I'm not  
buying.  
If it's anybody else, wait for the tone,  
You know what to do.  
And P.S. if this is Boston, I still love you"_

The last words took her aback. As far as she knew she was the only one Boston that Mark knew. He still loved her. Her eyes lit up with tears, but before the tone she hung up. What could she say? She was too old to believe that sorry meant anything. Lexie's roommate Emma entered the apartment. She just saw her tears. "What's wrong Lex? Is everything ok?"she asked.

"He still loves me Em. I might go back to Seattle." Lexie replied.

"How do you know?" Emma asked.

"I called his house and his answering machine told me." Lexie answered. "He said for the whole world to hear, he still loves me."

"And you still love him?" Emma asked, knowing the answer. She had never seen someone so in love in her life. "You have to do what you think is right. So what did you leave as a message."

"I didn't" Lexie responded. "I don't know what to say."

Emma knew it was going to come out cheesy but she said it anyway, "Just listen to your heart, Lex."

For the next three days Lexie kept dialing his number every night after work. The first night she hung up before she finished dialing. The next night she hung up before it could ring. But the third night, she stayed on the line. It was the answering machine again.

"_If it's Friday night I'm at the ballgame  
And first thing Saturday, if it don't rain  
I'm headed out to the lake  
And I'll be gone, all weekend long  
But I'll call you back when I get home  
On Sunday afternoon  
And P.S. If this is Boston, I still love you"_

Listening to his last words, she knew what she wanted to say was more than what she wanted to leave on an answering machine. So she just left her number. Saturday night she was on-call, so she was too busy to worry about him and whether or not he had gotten her message yet. Sunday she took on an extra shift, perhaps her last at Boston Gen, but she made sure she was home by the time afternoon rolled around in Seattle.

Sunday night in Seattle, Mark trudged into his apartment. Friday night, he had slept at Derek's trailer so they could be up and gone by the crack of done. He was tired and ready to go to bed, but the answering machine was flickering. Someone had actually called and left a message. Most people he knew didn't bother. Pressing the play button, the first message was from Addison. "Mark, I talked with everyone at the practice, and we'd love to see you here. Call me back when you get my message. Bye." It was short and sweet, a typical Addie message. It might be good for him, he could only hang on for so much longer. Perhaps in another month he'd be ready to let go. Granted he had said that last month and the month before, but he wanted to believe that he could let go of the hurt.

Then a voice he hadn't been expecting filled his ears. "617-585-7168," came Lexie's voice from the box. There wasn't anything else, but she had finally called. He knew it would be late there, but he couldn't wait. Even just a handful of numbers lifted his spirit. So shaking, he dialed the strange number, hoping he'd hear those words that he longed to hear for a year now from her lips. He waited for the machine to pick up. There was no way she would still be up. It had to be after midnight Eastern Time. Then he heard her voice.

"_If you're calling 'bout my heart  
it's still yours.  
I should've listened to it a little more.  
Then it wouldn't have taken me so long to know where I belong.  
And by the way, boy, this is no machine you're talking to  
Can't you tell, this is Boston, and I still love you."_

Lexie's voice cracked at the last words, she had wanted to say them as desperately as Mark wanted to hear them. "I want to come home, Mark. I…"Lexie started.

Mark interrupted, "I want you home too, Lex. I've held on for you."

"I had told them that today was my last day and I talked to the Chief at Seattle Grace. I'm coming home." Lexie said, happy tears trailing down her face, though Mark couldn't see them.

"I knew you'd come back. Meredith told me so." Mark responded. Their conversation quickly devolved into them telling each other how much they loved each other.

Before the end of the week, Lexie was back where she knew she belonged, in Mark's arms, though she had never left his heart.


End file.
